The Internet: Task (video)

Kunta the Ghanaian warrior loses his web virginity and tells us a little something about his first-time.

Short answer - (12A) rated film content

"Have Hollywood attitudes towards content in 12A films become more liberal or have audiences’ film desires changed?"

The core substance of this question is philosophically investigative in the sense that there is a reciprocal cause and effect between the two co-variables of content sensitivity and the audience's desires. It may be argued that Hollywood attitudes have become a lot more liberal today than traditionally before as previously taboo topics within categories of sex, gender, ethnicity and disability are a lot more openly portrayed and available for discussion in modern narratives of films. This can correlate with institutions adopting the idea of raising awareness for audiences and the much speculated craving for controversy which has been proposed by theatrical critics. Therefore, to some extent it could be rightfully concluded that Hollywood attitudes are directly reflective of the audience's desires, possibly so because of the increased influence of users on the producers of the media. 

Short answer - Female stereotypes

"To what extent do the female characters in 'The Dark Knight Rises' and 'SALT' challenge traditional female stereotypes?"

Despite of not have watching the two films myself, from the attained information from the exemplar answer, I have established that the female characters from the two films challenge traditional female stereotypes to a high extent. The reason for this is because universally traditional, pre-feminist expectations of women entailed their socio-political stance to be dormant as they were expected to act submissively to men who were the leaders of this patriarchal society. This is directly contrasted with the representation of the catwoman, for instance, who takes an active role as a leading female character to vigilantly and independently (notably without the assistance of a male figure) save others as well as brutally kill her enemies (a lot of which happen to be men, thus further disputing the traditionally imposed idea that hyper-masculinity means great power and strength. 

It may be arguable on the other hand that the women are yet succumbing to traditional female stereotypes as they are eventually the sexually objectified playthings of the men in the films. This is apparent in the scene of the catwoman's sexualised submission to a man's aggression as she is coerced against a wall. This reinforces the role of women as merely sexually appealing to men as this scene would satisfy a primarily male audience, as theorised by Mulvey's 'male gaze' theory. However, this can be refuted by the claim that women exploit and in frequent cases of contemporary media - flaunt their sexuality as a means of their own benefit and power over men. This is overlooked due to a gemini effect created by mainstream media which establishes women to be on the weaker end of the process of transmitting sexual satisfaction to a man, thus forgetting that women may even intend to exploit their physicality. 

The representation of race/ethnicity in the media [Media Magazine task]

"Is it cos I is British?" (MM42)

• Inheritance of American values to define black British stereotypes 
• Fixation on money/wealth and ideologies of male sexual dominance reinforced by music inc. Hip-hop, portraying the stereotype for young black men
• Tory MP: " ‘…leftie multicultural crap…"
• British 'hood' dramas 
• The Crouches ('03), T-F-P-o-BelAir 
• Other racially-centric dramas inc. Citizen Khan 

"A very British doctor" (MM35)

• Britishness amplified; iconography of black taxi or bright red London bus
• Desire to reflect the country’s multi-racial and multicultural diversity 
• "Rose is white British and working class, while Martha Jones is black British and middle class, and Donna Noble, again, white British and middle class. With such cultural backgrounds, the companions allow the narrative to positively expose the range of culture, race and class within contemporary Britain by incorporating family, friends and colleagues into the adventures they have with the Doctor."
• The character is consistently played by a British actor with an English accent (even when played by Scottish actor David Tennant). 

"An exploration of independent indigenous Australian film" (MM43)

• The Sapphires
• Former governments tried to "breed out the blackness"
• Light to dark Australian history